Update and A little horsing around...

Our little dude has been advocated for before.  Thought y'all might like to see what others have said about him.

(And, doesn't "Shane" sound like a good cowboy name??  It's how the former agency referred to him since Chin*se names are not shared publicly.  Not a bad moniker during the wait!)

http://www.asiahope.blogspot.com/2011/11/shane-fast-as-lightening.html

http://tenlittleducklings.blogspot.com/2013/03/shane.html

Doesn't he sound fun??  We've heard from other updates very much the same thing - that he is fast, active, full of personality, and a bit of a stinker, but really sweet and engaging.  Looks like we may have our hands full with this one AND his "big" brother Joel.

Seth's limb difference is fairly complicated, and we don't really know what all will be involved once we get home.  He has quite a bit of orthopedic work ahead, but we have an AMAZING ortho team who will help him achieve the best outcome.  Joel has thrived under their care, and we expect even more great progress down the road for him.  We are truly blessed with an incredible community that will welcome, embrace & care for our precious newest cowboy.

WHERE WE ARE NOW:
Our homestudy just completed its final revision stage.  THANK YOU for helping us that piece paid off!  Our homestudy agency filed paperwork with US Immigration (I-800a) on Friday.  I spent Friday in paperwork heaven (or hades, depending on your perspective!)  After 9 stops at various agencies & gov't offices (and 7 1/2 hours running the roads in Nashville area traffic, BLECH...), I was able to get the remainder of our documents ready for the final certification and approval, so basically, our dossier is nearly DONE.  We are moving right along, except....

Now, we wait.

This is a hurry-up-get-your-stuff-signed-quickly-and-FedEx-it-back-then-wait-FOREVER-for-agencies-to-process-it journey.

Sigh...

Soon, we will be fingerprinted, and hopefully be approved with no real fanfare nor delays to bring a new family member into the country.  That 1 page approval document is the last item to complete our dossier for submitting to Ch*na. If I get my birthday wish this week, that won't take more than 6 or 7 weeks.

Then, we can scramble around to get it notarized, certified, sanctified, glorified, and get it to our agency so they can finish our dossier and get it on its merry way to our little man's motherland A.S.A.P!!!!

Then, we will wait.
Again.
Ugh...

In the meantime, we're enjoying learning all we can about his home area and what our trip to a different province of Ch*na will look like.  It's a sweet & fascinating piece of this puzzle that Seth's province is known for horses & grassland, even though he has not experienced that lifestyle.  Yet. :)  What a wonderful connection; we're eager to experience a little of it (albeit in the dead of winter!) when we travel.  And, then bring that lil buckeroo home and introduce him to the "grasslands" of home.

Definitely room in that saddle for lil brother

Big Daddy G is NOT holding on.  Little man is riding ALL BY HIMSELF!!